Miniature version of a grand game

In one of many ways, golf once again separated itself from other mainstream participant sports when someone back in the early 20th century decided to build the first miniature golf course. You can’t play downsized versions of tennis or bowling or any team sport using the same original game equipment as you do when you play a miniature golf course.

The game started gaining popularity during the Golden Age of Golf, mainly during the 1920s. People wanted to be associated with the burgeoning sport but often couldn’t afford to buy the clubs or join a club, so the mini-golf option caught on pretty quickly.

Entrepreneurs climbed aboard the bandwagon immediately. John Ledbetter and Drake Delaney built a course on the top of a NYC skyscraper, bringing access to the city workers for the first time. It had painted landscapes on the canvas walls that separated the holes.

Garnet Carter, a real estate developer built one of the first courses in the South when he created a Tom Thumb miniature course in his resort, called Fairyland in Chattanooga Tenn. He wanted to counteract the recession driven drop in hotel-room sales, and people came by the thousands. Construction costs were lowered and playing conditions improved when a man called Cort patented a means of creating “greens” out of crushed cotton seed hulls just in time for the Great Depression.

The Depression was the best thing that could have happened to the miniature golf industry. A journalist, writing in October of 1930 compared the rise in popularity of miniature golf to a similar situation described by Herodotus (no, seriously) when he recounted how, in the reign of Atys, the kingdom of Lydia was beset by famine which lasted 18 years.

The people rode out the famine by inventing and playing games every other day to take their minds off their empty bellies while not eating, which was reserved for the non-playing days. Thus were invented many games such as dice, ball games and knucklebones (now you know where knucklebones got its start.)

Just so, mini-golf course construction exploded in North America. It was a way to take your mind off your financial troubles and be entertained for only 50 cents for each foursome. It was a family oriented activity, cheaper than movies and was not gender- or age-biased. It was, in fact, recession-proof.

Average estimates for the number of courses in the early ’30s is 40,000, each built at an average cost of $4,000. Compare that to today’s figures of around 1,100 courses in the U.S., built at an average cost of about $200,000 and charging about $5 per round.

The 1935 dollar has the spending power of about $13 today, so the cost of playing hasn’t risen appreciably, while the quality of the courses has risen dramatically. It wasn’t until 1938 when Joseph and Robert Taylor of Binghamton got into the business that the windmills and clown heads started to appear.

Looking back, I suppose mini-golf was one of the reasons I took up the sport I’ve been playing all these decades. I was thrilled to get to the mini-golf course, and the round always ended too soon for me. My son was the same. He asked that he have his 7th birthday party at the local Putt-Putt course when we were living in South Carolina.

For any of you out there who think this is a good idea, just let me tell you that when 7-year-old boys are standing around waiting their turn, they tend to swing their putters around a lot. That day, the birthday boy was the only casualty, being accidentally hit in the head and the abdomen by his rambunctious friends and spending a good part of the round in tears.

I guess in the end it was a good thing, an excellent way to experience the pain golf can inflict. He was a miniature golfer playing a miniature game and getting a huge lesson. I know I’ve been close to tears after some rounds I’ve played over the years.

William Tucker

2 Responses

Don’t foget about the younger brother of golf……… Disc golf has been growing quickly in the Capital Region and all over the country.
An inexpensive alternative that players of all ages can enjoy. Free permanent courses are popping up in Schenectady, Niskayuna & Chatham.